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Two sketchbooks (Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf) give valuable information about Guglielmo's work in bronze, a medium he only began to use when he first came to Rome. His numerous bronze sculptures include 16 mythological reliefs after Ovid and are held in several collections (e.g. Kunsthistorisches Mueseum, Vienna; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York).
In Greek mythology, the hero Perseus was famous for killing Medusa, the snake-haired Gorgon whose grotesque appearance turned men to stone. This relief, however, shows a later episode from the hero's life. At Perseus's and Andromeda's wedding, their nuptials were interrupted by a mob led by Phineus, a disappointed suitor. After a fierce battle, Perseus finally triumphed by brandishing the head of Medusa and turning his opponents into stone.
The present bronze relief is one of a series of eight oval plaquettes in Vienna.
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